The Real Deal Miami

Coconut Grove Playhouse faces a final hurdle

City has failed to settle a $549,000 debt, creditor says

May 27, 2014 05:15PM

Coconut Grove Playhouse

The effort to regain public control of the Coconut Grove Playhouse may not be finished yet.

After making a deal with its creditors that seemed to have saved the theater from the auction block, Miami-Dade County officials revealed that Strategic Properties Group has a levy against the property at 3500 Main Highway, according to the Daily Business Review.

Strategic Properties head Henry Pino received a police-issued document on May 12 giving him the right to garnish the property to satisfy a 2013 judgment. The nonprofit group that formerly ran the theater owed Pino more than $549,000.

“At the end of the day, what’s right is right,” Pino told the DBR. “They know they owe me the money. They always knew that I existed and have chosen to ignore the issue. The big point here is that the mayor stood in front of the commission in January and basically said he’d settled with everyone that was owed money when in essence that’s not true.”

Pino added that “if there’s no settlement in four weeks, I can put [the Playhouse] up for sale or I can take it. I don’t want to take it, so it’s going to be very interesting.” [DBR] – Christopher Cameron